times that are to come among the nations." There may have been some
inheritance by the youth from his mother of a fondness for books, for
he always spoke of her with great respect as a superior woman; but the
probability is that the intellectual turn of his mind originated within
itself, and was cherished by the affection he felt, and everywhere
inspired as a boy, and the personal interest with which such a
disposition is always repaid. His impressible mind was, doubtless,
affected by the grand or beautiful scenery amid which his early life
was passed. He was a bright pupil of all his teachers. One of them he
so soon excelled in acquirements that the honest pedagogue frankly
advised him to seek an abler instructor. But that boon was not to be at
once or easily obtained, for Jared was too poor to follow the master's
advice; and, becoming apprenticed to a carpenter, he wrought at his
trade for two years, still employing his spare time in study. He
borrowed and mastered a common sailor's book on navigation. He taught
himself the names and positions of the stars, and how to calculate the
simpler problems of astronomy, the higher mysteries of which he also
strove to unravel. For this purpose, he bought a large wooden ball, on
which he marked the stars and traced the course of a celebrated comet;
and finally he succeeded in calculating an eclipse. At sixteen, he
seems to have lost entirely the care of his aunt and uncle, so that he
was adrift in the world from that early period. But, his gentle and
intellectual character had made him friends. His conduct was observed
in that New England neighborhood, where such indications of worth are
not only praised but protected. His employer, seeing the tendency of
his mind and appreciating his talent, voluntarily released him from
indenture, and his first impulse upon emancipation was to become,
himself, a schoolmaster. He applied, at once, to the local authorities.
The school-committee examined and passed him; and being thus
pronounced able to instruct, he taught in a small district on the
outskirts of Tolland, until the scholars ceased coming during the
summer, when Jared, for lack of means, was obliged to return for
support to his saw and chisel.

Fortunately, however, he was not detained long at the work-bench. The
story of a carpenter-boy studying Euclid and solving algebraic
problems, made a stir in the village of Willington, where he then
lived. Nor could the eager youth any long